Tuesday, August 25, 2009

America's Got Talent. . . and A-holes

This will probably be my shortest post to date. I finally tuned into America's Got Talent for the first time. I watched a couple of contestants, listened to the judges remarks, and then immediately turned off the television - waste of anybody's time.

I turned the television off because I didn't understand why 3 of the world's most untalented people vote on who does or does not have talent. Also, not that this matters, ONE of the "America's Got Talent" judges is American. So America: Europe says you suck.

I'll focus on one judge because she was talking when I turned the show on: Sharon Osbourne (i'm not sure of the spelling and I'm not even going to google/check it). Sharon was saying the same thing that I've heard her say on the preview commercials: "I am at a loss for words". And we all know what else she is at a loss of: Vocabulary and. .. well. . .Talent.

Ah well, I'm at home and she's on Television. She knows more than us all. God Bless her :-D

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Trying out the Blackberry 8330: My First Blackberry

I am a brand-spankin' new Blackberry user. I constantly bickered to my friends that I would never "sell out" and get one of these things. Well, I lied.

It's been about 2 full days now that I've had this blackberry. Due to the simplicity of the Blackberry OS, I must say that I like it. There are some immediate problems I've noticed though. I'm not the only one who has this problem either, it's been repeated and posted in forums.

The problem is that I seem to only get a normal, actually "talkable" signal when I'm in a city or somewhere with 3g-like towers. With my previous phone, I could talk clearly in Hillbilly land - of field and trees. With this Blackberry Curve 8330, it seems to be all or nothing.

When I'm in the city at work, perfect connection: It's clear in buildings, areas with trees, and cloudy weather - it's been rainy and dark the last couple days here in Southeast Michigan.

I'm not just signing on to post a complaint because I would really like to fix this and not have to force myself to return this phone before my 30-day trial is up. But really, I've been looking for solutions to this problem for hours now. I've scoured the Crackberry forums. I called Sprint and had them do a PRL Update. I also have done numerous full restarts on the Blackberry - you know, the one that takes like 5 minutes to boot to the hour glass. I still have this same problem.

One last thing that I've heard could be the problem with this Blackberry is that the antenna is internal, so it might not get as good of reception. A friend and coworker of mine has a high-end blackberry - Sprint also, and has no problem with reception on his phone. Maybe I bought into a bad batch of phones. Time will tell and I'll keep this blog updated with the status.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Bored on Saturday.

After meeting with my paw and having a great breakfast, I returned home and quickly became bored. I then turned on the television hoping to find some sort of national news. There was national news - ET HD (entertainment tonight).

My mind about crapped. It was great news because it was important - Kate Gosselin crying for the camera. Remember what I said in previous posts - it's all about showing guests cry for the camera and everybody watches. Entertainment Tonight HD wanted to talk about Kate's love live - separation - or something, I'm not even sure, but they did say something similar to "Kate now gets to hold a snake for the first time in her entire life." ET continued to loop a clip of her holding a huge python-esque snake.

First I thought, "big deal..she's held a snake at lest 8 times that we know of". OK, now ET is signing off - thank God. I can't stand this fake news. Am I alone in feeling that American minds are purposely being occupied while other, political agendas are under way? Ok, I'm signing off before my blood pressure rises. I now get to what I love - teach drum lessons.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Post Memphis Blues Festival Review: A Success.

Though off to a very Rainy/Flash-flood start, the 2009 2nd-Annual Memphis Blues Festival was a huge success. Thank you to all of the volunteers, firework show charity, and blues fans that supported this year's program. This year brought in over twice as many fans as well as bands than the previous year. All of this action is starting to spread on the web as well.

A great band that performed at the Friday show posted a note on Live Blues World, which can be read here. Getting word out about the Memphis Blues Festival over the last year is really helping us grow. Thanks again, Michigan Blues Fans!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Memphis Blues Festival 2009: It's here!

Today is day one of the 2nd Annual Memphis Blues Festival. If you live in Southeast Michigan and feel the need for some blues, ribs, side-walk sales, duck (rubber) races, and more variety of live music, come out to Memphis, Michigan. Better yet, check out Memphis Blues Mi for more information.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Memphis Blues Festival

This is not Memphis, Tennessee. Not Memphis,Missouri but Memphis, Michigan. It's a Blues Festival that I help make happen. I'll give you a quick explanation of how it started:

Last year, Steven Weaver, a fellow musician and friend of mine pitched the idea about putting on a small blues show. We got approx 4 or 5 bands to participate the first year. This blues show went on August 2nd, 2008 and had much success. The Rib guy sold out in under 4 hours!

Well this is only the 2nd year and the blues festival has grown significantly. This 2009 Memphis Blues Festival is now held on two days: August 7th and 8th. We now have 10 bands playing at this small festival during the Memphis Days. Memphis, MI is small, small. It's a city with just over 1,000 people - or something like that.

I recommend you check out the Memphis Blues MI website for more details. If you're interested in coming, there is more good news. IT'S FREE.

See you there . . .